More effort needed to fight poverty: MPs

Dodoma. Tanzania’s economy has been growing at a relatively satisfactory rate for the past two decades,  but this has had no meaningful impact on poverty alleviation, forcing legislators to propose new ways of lifting the poorest regions out of insolvency.

Last year, the economy grew by seven per cent, according to Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Phillip Mpango, and the target is to raise it to 7.2 per cent during the current calendar year.

Regions with poorest populations include Kigoma where 48.9 per cent of its population live below the poverty line and Geita, whose population of  the poor is 43.7 per cent. Other poorest regions and the percentage of the poor populations in brackets include: Kagera (39.3 per cent), Singida (38.2 per cent) and Mwanza (35.3 per cent).

And debating the State and of the National Economy and the Sh29.5 trillion budget for the 2016/2017 financial year, some Members of Parliament (MPs) attributed the high poverty levels to the numerous taxes, levies and fees that the government has slapped on some cash crops that are grown in the poorest regions, most  offee and cotton.

According to the Kigoma North MP, Mr Peter Serukamba, coffee alone – which is widely grown in Kagera and Kigoma regions among others - attracts 26 different taxes, levies and fees, a situation that means that a lion’s share of farmers’ incomes end up in the hands of the government and its agencies.

“The situation has remained so even as the price of coffee has been going down and this means that people in areas that grow coffee can only become poorer,” he said.

In the 2016/2017 budget, the government is proposing to abolish some of the various fees and levies.